Angela Campbell rocked back and forth as she answered her front door Tuesday morning in East Price Hill.

And she kept rocking as she talked about her 73-year-old neighbor and his 14-year-old son, Georta Mack. They are good people. Kind people. Respectful people. The father lived for Georta. So much so, he got up before the sun dawned and as snow squalled Tuesday morning to drop Georta at the school bus stop.

"It's not real,'' she said sitting on her couch with her arms wrapped around her chest. "I'm trying to absorb it.

"I just, I just can't.''

Instead of getting on that bus, Georta – who everyone here in the 1200 block of Blanchard St. just called Day-Day – headed back home, slipped inside and hid in the basement. Skipping school, the police said.

His dad heard a noise, grabbed a loaded .45-caliber gun and headed downstairs.

But instead of confronting an intruder, Georta jumped out and startled his father who fired and struck Georta in the neck.

The father's call to 911 is ragged emotion as he struggles to keep his boy alive. At times, he talks to his son – asking him why he didn't go to school, telling him to turn over so he can breathe.

But mostly, he pleads over and over with the 911 dispatcher to send help.

CLOSE

Hear the 911 call after police say an East Price Hill man, believing his 14-year-old son, Georta Mack, was at school, fatally shot the boy in the neck when he mistook him for an intruder at his home.
The Enquirer/Carrie Cochran

"I just shot my son ... by accident ... he scared me .. Oh, god, get here quick,'' he cries into the phone about 6:30 a.m.

Campbell said she saw the dad on his porch shortly after the shooting and he just looked blank. Broken. It's a look she's never seen.

If only Georta had gone to school.

It's not clear what school that was. Cincinnati Public Schools spokeswoman Chris Wolff said Georta attended Riverview East Academy until May 2015, but has not been enrolled in any CPS schools since that time.

Campbell said she didn't know her neighbor owned a gun. But she understands fear in this neighborhood. There have been robberies and home invasions on this dead-end street just off Glenway Avenue. There are sometimes folks who don't belong here.

It's why she keeps a baseball bat behind every door. Just in case. It makes her feel safe.

But guns, she doesn't like guns. Accidents happen with guns, she said.

Unfortunate, terrible, tragic accidents that happened just across the street. Preventable accidents.

Study after study shows guns in the home for protection are far more likely to be involved in accidental shootings, homicides or suicide attempts than against an intruder.

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Having a gun increases the risk of homicide, suicide or injury by between 80 percent to 200 percent than not having a gun inside the home, he said.

More simply: "You don't help your odds by having a gun in the home,'' he said.

But fear is powerful here in East Price Hill, in a city that witnessed a double-digit increase in shootings last year.

Just ask Angela Roberts, who lives on Blanchard Street, too.

Look around, she said.

"In this neighborhood, everyone has a gun."

Cincinnati Police Chief Eliot Isaac, who called Tuesday's shooting "horrible, just horrible,'' said he believed the father owned the gun legally. Officials continue to investigate and are working with the Hamilton County Prosecutor's Office to determine if there will be any charges in the case, which is one reason police cited for not releasing the father's name.

"It is legal to have a gun inside your home,'' Isaac said, but added that gun owners should be responsible, prepared and well-trained. And all occupants should know there is a gun in a home.

"Too many children are shot accidentally when they or a sibling or friend find a gun and are curious," Richard Falcone, director of trauma services at Children's Hospital Medical Center, said recently. "Too few people use gun locks or keep guns unloaded and away from children."

It was unclear Tuesday if the father kept the gun safely in the home or if the son knew he had it.

Isaac also said he appreciates how some residents in the city may be fearful. But he said police officers cannot be everywhere, all of the time. "We are not an occupying force.''

"We are being as responsive as we can,'' he said. "But we are under no illusion that we can do everything and be everywhere all of the time."

Mayor John Cranley has called reducing violence, shootings and guns in the city his top priority. He re-emphasized that Tuesday.

But none of that mattered much to Campbell as she sat in her living room just a 10-minute drive away from City Hall and looked out across the street.

This neighborhood, this street, this dad, will never be the same again.